wetoolowdingbangow
1/2 ton status
Well as some of you know that i was planning on going up to Fordyce creek with a few friends this last weekend.
Lets start by saying this trail is pretty difficult. Way harder than the rubicon. Or maybe i should say more intense...
It all started by me taking off thursday and friday to work on the truck and head up to the trail. My group was meeting up at 12:45 near auburn and i new i wasnt going to make that. I was bummed and still working my ass off on my truck. Then i found out some other bay area guys were starting the trail later so i attempted to meet up with them.
I sort of went wheeling out of spite because i worked so hard on the truck and neglected sleep so i say screw it im going. This was the 1ST MISTAKE i made. Its not like the truck wasnt ready or capable i just needed more time for things.
Anyways i made it up there late. One thing lead to another and i ended up pulling into the staging area at 10:30pm. I was surprised to see about 20 rigs getting ready to do the trail but i figured id start the trail myself at 5AM because the first part wasn't very difficult. A couple really cool guys came over and offered to take e with them through to the area where my group was camping. I said sure because if i got in trouble at least there was immediate help.
I noticed a stretched white sammy and a red jeep that said dang gang on the side of it. I looked for chris but knew he was probably in the middle of an engine swap but i was with his people so that was cool. I dont think they were all dang gang but damn could they party. We rode into the trail a mile or two to where driveline hill is.
There were two drive shafts in pieces on the ground and a 4 runner stuck on the hill in a matter of ten minutes. I watched them help 4 runner guy out, talked to his passenger...super cool guys from sacramento. By the time we got out of there it was 1AM. Im tired and really want to sleep.
We did this gnarly steep section before the first water crossing. I could barely see jack shiz out there...need light bar bad. Got to first water crossing. Flogged it through...2ND MISTAKE. I had completely forgotten about not having inner fenders. Water was coming from everywhere. E-fan was doing amazing btw. No issues at the crossing other than someone lost a new iphone. We went about 15 mins more into the trail and camped.
I pitched my tent a 3:30 AM. Slept till about 7:00AM. Walked about 15 mins away and found my group near the pools. I got my rig and went over to them. It was at this time that the fan got stuck on, which is better than off but still a PIA.
We took off at about 8AM and within minutes a rock had gotten kicked into the trail. A 10klb winch didnt budge it. It was about 3ft square and we rammed it off to the side with trucks. No way around it until we moved it.
We hit some good rock gardens and i was bouncing around a bit and hit a few things. No biggie. I then get to the top of a steep hill and the carb starts acting funny. Got to the bottom of the hill and checked things out. The exhaust got bent up a bit and aimed at the fuel tank. This pressurized the tank to the point of almost blowing. It took about 10 minutes to get the pressure out. At this point in time im thinking i can fix this problem and carry on.
Got going again and went about 20 minutes, carb still acting up and bogging out. Shortly after i lost power to the cab and the engine died. This is when oh shizz popped in my head. We quickly started diagnostics on everything. I blew a few fuses and got those replaced. Seemed to get most of the power back to the cab but nothing for the ignition. We came to the conclusion that it was time to hot wire the truck.
After we hot wired it, it started up and seemed ok. I put it in reverse and it died when i put a load on it. Did that several times and it seemed to get better every time. At this point the rest of the group started taking off. Im not sure what that was about. I think people were antsy to get going but i wasnt fixed so it shouldnt have happened. One guy that was with me still said he would go chase them down. I told him to relay to them that i needed to be towed likely.
3RD MISTAKE, i was tremendously under tooled. I forgot my torx bits and my 1/2" sockets and some open end wrenches. I also didnt have jack in the way of electrical supplies. Felt like a real idiot at this point.
I waited 4 hours for the guys to come back (they left at 1pm) and i started to feel hopeless. I quickly snapped myself out of that as i know your mind can be your worst enemy in bad situations. I started checking fuses again and making sure wires were ok. It wouldnt stay lit in gear so i couldnt move. At this point it was 5 in the afternoon and i talked to everyone who stopped by. Bummed a few 30 amp fuses from some folks. There was a yota that offered to tow me but i probably weighed twice what he did and i declined because he could break...very nice of him either way.
I started hiking out some distance. Maybe a half mile just to see if i could see anyone coming. I thought maybe the other guys were stuck or maybe they broke too. Around 6:30 two jeeps came rolling by. They were both built and the first one had a hiker with a wrist in the shape of a Z. She was immediately taken off the trail by the jeep guy. Later she was flew to UCSF medical center. Lucky for her to get out...possibly could have went into shock or something.
The other jeep guy was quite honestly one of the best human beings ive ever had contact with. He was positive, optimistic and really reassured me that i would get help. He started to give me a tow. It was a purple tube frame jeep, 350 tbi with dynatrac 60's. He got me up to an area where it turned gnarly quick. It was near a pond about .25 miles from winch hill 1. He started slipping too much so he winched on me in reverse.
He was also driving in reverse to pull me up some big rocks. He started chopping up and down and sure as shizz a bang went off that sounded like a shotgun. My heart sank.
He broke a u joint in the front axle. I felt horrible. It was all my fault. If i didnt break he woudlt have lost an axle.
He told me "no big deal, i can fix this". I helped him pull the axle and stuff a rag in the end. We got it back togethor and he said the other jeep has his 9 year old in it. I said go. Ill be fine. I got some cell service and learned that my parents were camping near truckee and got the news. They were heading down to be my HQ. They camped at the staging area until i got my ass off that trail at 5:30 AM monday. Purple jeep guy was so calm and collect. I got him a water for his efforts and apologized profusely. He said no big deal man, ill get out and send you help. I thanks him and he was on his way. The sun was going down and that was the first time fear had come to mind. I was all alone out on a trail ive never been on with nothing in sight. Ive been alone before in places for days at a time but those were planned out. This was completely unplanned and unfortunately i was ill equipped.
Again i got control of myself and texted my dad what the problems were. He told me what to check and no luck. It was at this point i had to make a decision. I was a plug in the trail and no one could get around me. I started stacking rocks to make the trail a little smoother even though it was far rougher than Rubicons big sluice. I walked around, studied my surroundings until i came up with the conclusion i need to move. I couldn't get my ass out of the way enough for someone to get around me. Thats a very big problem.
I started to stack rocks for an hour and a half. I filled in some of the big swells and it was time to either do or die. I went for it. The truck would only run at full throttle. I bounced my ass through that and at one point had both front tires up off the ground. I totally expected something to give, something to explode and nothing. I made it. It was such a small feat but it felt like a huge victory. I was now out of the way of anyone coming down the trail which means i could get help from either direction. There was a small pond there and i washed myself up with the mosquito infested water. At this time it got dark.
I took my 9mm out and put one in the chamber and clicked safety off. It was too much of a slop to be able to pitch a tent so i slept upright in my truck seat. Never even ate that night or lunch due to the stress. Just kept rationing myself water. I tried my ass off to sleep and nothing. Finally a 350 powered fj40 and an xj came down the trail at 12:30am. Two guys got out and asked whats going on.
One of the guys was a shorter hispanic guy...he had the hood open and started finding issues faster then i could tell them the trucks symptoms. He was a machine. He sat in the engine bay and rewired my screwed up hot wire job. The guy also found a vacuum leak from a cracked plug. The truck instantly ran better. It wasnt perfect but seemed driveable.
He said you need to go now while its running. I was by myself heading the opposite direction at night. My judgement said no. I cant risk getting in trouble at night and he agreed i should take off at day break. I waiting in my truck that night, finger on the trigger, listening to the bumps in the night. There was a river paralell to the trail that dround out some noise and i couldnt tell if anything was walking up on me. Of course out there your mind wanders. No moon all weekend so it was DARK!
Around 2:30 am a jeep rolled up. It was white and silver with soem younger guys my age in it. They said they would relay my call for help. He let me charge my phone...cigarette lighter port took a crap. I got my phone to 22%. I later found out that guy talked to my parents as well and told them i was ok.
I turned my phone off for the night. Got about an hour of sleep. literally waited for the sun to come up. When it did i got out of the truck and carefully scanned the area. Theres been some reports of mountain lions hunting people. I would be that sitting duck.
I started going to work. Prepping the truck for leaving. I started it and what do you know...it wasnt running right again. I was pissed. That was when fear set in. I was literally trapped for the time being. I had about a day worth of food and 3 days of water.
Thats the point when i turned my phone on, got some internet signal. I jumped on pirate and made a mayday call. I posted a help needed asap message including my phone number. Word started to spread by 7:30 and the text were rolling in. People asking for location and specifics. i texted quickly, abbreviating words to keep the screen on for short spurts. I finally got a message froma guy who goes by kdub on pirate. Hes a friends of fordyce member and said he would send his friend in and they were loading up right now. I felt like i had hope. Kdub said the guy hes sending in is crazy as hell but he'll get you out and he runs the trail fast. Time was passing by. I felt like i was in jail watching a clock.
It was so beautiful out there and i couldnt enjoy it. I limped the truck up the trail some more. I also made rock stacks and arrows out of wood to signal my location or distress. I wrote help on the side of the blazer with ketchup. Finally i could hear a 4 banger bouncing off the rev limiter. It was almost euphoric. I kept thinking i was hearing things. Sure enough he crested the hill and i waived. The guy rolls up tokin with a big ass meaty dog. It was a 4 runner on dana 70s and 7.17 gears. Impressive truck.
We went right to work. He charged my phone some and told my parents we made contact. This was sunday at about 3pm.
The guy brought me some stuff including an electric fuel pump, atf and fuses. He had water and a lot of alcohol lol.
I didnt want to even see beer at that point but he pressured me into it and we polished off 6 or 7 in no time. We made sure there was no water in the distributor and that it was getting spark. check.
Got he truck fired up and he said go. This trail is this guys second home. He said you need to go the way you came. I was like oh shizz. I started down the trail with him behind me. I questioned about him being in back and he said dont worry ill get around if i need to. The truck was only running good at full throttle so i ripped it down the trail. bouncing all over.
We got pretty far under my own power. To winch hill .5 to be exact. I started going up hill and it died. He said crank it over WFO. I did so and he immediately yelled "GTFO of the truck". I threw my back pack out the window, which had ammo in it as i could see flames coming from under the truck. I had my extinguisher ready and got the fire out. It was because of the catalytic converter. He said take that off. i was now open headers!
He wheeled around me and pulled me up the hill. Let it cool down then it wouldnt start. Got really stuck going down WH.5. Tires jammed into rock, no power steering from non running engine. He called in back up. An ultra 4 car from colfax i believe. It was at this time we discovered the truck was pissing fuel from carb. I knew the float was stuck. Blew some more fuses, got winched sideways. Needed more pulling to get free so he drive up the side of my truck...oh well right?
Got freed up and going again. i kept my eye on the dog because he was tailing close and i didnt want to hurt him. I fed him a water on the way down the rock gardens approaching where i camped 2 nights before. It got dark quick. There was word of a CJ jeep that smoked the computer in it. Back up was called in for that. The guy who was rescuing the cj blew a radiator hose and they both had to be pulled out. Its my belief that it was kevin from Parts mike who did that duty of getting them both out. That guys a champ.
It got dark quick again and somehow again the truck fired up. The guy with the 4 runner said you need to go right now to get as far as you can. I started down the trail, open headers blairing at 10pm in the forest. I could hear him say as i was leaving "i lost my dog". Not again i said to myself. Not more bad luck?
The dog was just there. Lost sight of him in the dark. The 4 rnner guy said go ahead. I went about 100ft, stopped and put it in park. Doggies are more important than people. I cannot leave like this. Its not apart of me.
I walked away from the truck running and headed into the dark to search for the dog. No luck. 4 runner guy made the final call. He said that hes confident the dog will catch up or go back to his tow rig. I was so delirious that i went with whatever he said. Out of no where two guys come walking up out of the dark. They said hey we were sent in for rescue but got a flat tire, no spare, no air. I thanksed them for their efforts. After all this was now about 1 am Monday morning. Like i said these guys were beyond human beings. They were heroes and nothing short of that.
The flat tire guys did the re-seat trick and limped out on a few psi.
Ultra 4 car came and hooked up to me. 4 runner guy was spent and went home. Ultra 4 towed me for what seemed like ever. It was really hard on me and the truck because he wanted to go fast. I got stuck several times due to steering 40s manually. It took on average 30 minutes or more to get unstuck. Finally we reached the water crossing i had done 2 nights before.
An hour before the crossing i heard a car alarm siren. It was loud and bold. It was to let anyone know the water level was rising. I couldnt imagine that had to add itself to the painstaking trip.
We reached the crossing. My hood went under the water. It was probably 5 feet deep. maybe more.
It took a few hours to get up the hill after that. Its super steep and full of basketball size rocks. I was falling asleep at the wheel as we were going up. We started pinching off the fuel line to make it run better. It worked a bit. We got to a point where i could go no further. The k5 was too heavy for the 4400lb ultra 4 car. Off in the distance there were light. Little beams of hope.
Sure enough it was kevin from partsmike and his passenger in a light blue 4 runner. I was really worried it wasnt going to be enough to pull me out. His passneger got out and looked at me, he said "we dont leave people out here". I almost teared up because of that battle i had been through so far. i was a wreck. I was covered in snot, dust, ants, grease and who knows what else.
What on earth are these guys doing out here at 4 am monday morning. Best guys ive ever met. I never knew people like that existed. I think they went to work that day too. Champions and heroes.
Slowly but surely i started to inch up the hill. They were double winching and tugging.
I made it up. The hard part was over. It was like i couldn't remember the trail though. Not enough sleep or food. Kevin said i need to be at work at 6, jokingly. i replied well i need to be in Berkeley at 7:30 haha (atleast 3 hours from my location).
I finally got off the trail at about 5:30 am. I remember looking at this white truck across the parking lot with a trailer behind it. i stared at it for 5 minutes before i realized it was mine. I was out of it big time.
I charged my ohone, called parents and they took me to there 5th wheel for coffee and food. I thanked everyone over and over again. I looked at kevin and said i guess your tierods are badass. He laughed and said "wow those are from me?", i replied with "do you guys do product reviews?". We shook hands and he was on his way. Buggy guy loaded up and he was gone too.
I felt victorious. I felt like i came from the belly of the beast but not without the help of extraordinary men. They were everything to me. Ill be sending them what money i have for there efforts.
4 runner guy started the trail at 7AM to look for the dog. A search party began. I wish i could have helped but i felt like id be a hazard with my lack of sleep and nutrition. I told everyone in passing about the dog, including tow jeepers going on the trail that morning. Dog was recovered at 4pm!
Huge weight off my shoulder. That was weighing on me big time.
Got the truck back on the trailer at full throttle and open headers at 9 am.
A big big thanks to pirate, partmike, brian with the U4 car, 4 runner guy, norcal chris, friends of fordyce, hellbent hillbillies, dang gang, skunked, steve allen, and the entire 4 wheeling community. I now understand that out of any hobby, the brotherhood of 4 wheeling is the strongest. Never have i seen such hard work, devotion, coordination, communication and patience. Again a gigantic thanks!
The k5 is hammered. No straight body parts anymore. I guess i can say its a true wheeler now haha. I was a little hurt by the damage but im alive and things could have gone south very fast. I guess i dont have to worry about dents anymore right?
Lets start by saying this trail is pretty difficult. Way harder than the rubicon. Or maybe i should say more intense...
It all started by me taking off thursday and friday to work on the truck and head up to the trail. My group was meeting up at 12:45 near auburn and i new i wasnt going to make that. I was bummed and still working my ass off on my truck. Then i found out some other bay area guys were starting the trail later so i attempted to meet up with them.
I sort of went wheeling out of spite because i worked so hard on the truck and neglected sleep so i say screw it im going. This was the 1ST MISTAKE i made. Its not like the truck wasnt ready or capable i just needed more time for things.
Anyways i made it up there late. One thing lead to another and i ended up pulling into the staging area at 10:30pm. I was surprised to see about 20 rigs getting ready to do the trail but i figured id start the trail myself at 5AM because the first part wasn't very difficult. A couple really cool guys came over and offered to take e with them through to the area where my group was camping. I said sure because if i got in trouble at least there was immediate help.
I noticed a stretched white sammy and a red jeep that said dang gang on the side of it. I looked for chris but knew he was probably in the middle of an engine swap but i was with his people so that was cool. I dont think they were all dang gang but damn could they party. We rode into the trail a mile or two to where driveline hill is.
There were two drive shafts in pieces on the ground and a 4 runner stuck on the hill in a matter of ten minutes. I watched them help 4 runner guy out, talked to his passenger...super cool guys from sacramento. By the time we got out of there it was 1AM. Im tired and really want to sleep.
We did this gnarly steep section before the first water crossing. I could barely see jack shiz out there...need light bar bad. Got to first water crossing. Flogged it through...2ND MISTAKE. I had completely forgotten about not having inner fenders. Water was coming from everywhere. E-fan was doing amazing btw. No issues at the crossing other than someone lost a new iphone. We went about 15 mins more into the trail and camped.
I pitched my tent a 3:30 AM. Slept till about 7:00AM. Walked about 15 mins away and found my group near the pools. I got my rig and went over to them. It was at this time that the fan got stuck on, which is better than off but still a PIA.
We took off at about 8AM and within minutes a rock had gotten kicked into the trail. A 10klb winch didnt budge it. It was about 3ft square and we rammed it off to the side with trucks. No way around it until we moved it.
We hit some good rock gardens and i was bouncing around a bit and hit a few things. No biggie. I then get to the top of a steep hill and the carb starts acting funny. Got to the bottom of the hill and checked things out. The exhaust got bent up a bit and aimed at the fuel tank. This pressurized the tank to the point of almost blowing. It took about 10 minutes to get the pressure out. At this point in time im thinking i can fix this problem and carry on.
Got going again and went about 20 minutes, carb still acting up and bogging out. Shortly after i lost power to the cab and the engine died. This is when oh shizz popped in my head. We quickly started diagnostics on everything. I blew a few fuses and got those replaced. Seemed to get most of the power back to the cab but nothing for the ignition. We came to the conclusion that it was time to hot wire the truck.
After we hot wired it, it started up and seemed ok. I put it in reverse and it died when i put a load on it. Did that several times and it seemed to get better every time. At this point the rest of the group started taking off. Im not sure what that was about. I think people were antsy to get going but i wasnt fixed so it shouldnt have happened. One guy that was with me still said he would go chase them down. I told him to relay to them that i needed to be towed likely.
3RD MISTAKE, i was tremendously under tooled. I forgot my torx bits and my 1/2" sockets and some open end wrenches. I also didnt have jack in the way of electrical supplies. Felt like a real idiot at this point.
I waited 4 hours for the guys to come back (they left at 1pm) and i started to feel hopeless. I quickly snapped myself out of that as i know your mind can be your worst enemy in bad situations. I started checking fuses again and making sure wires were ok. It wouldnt stay lit in gear so i couldnt move. At this point it was 5 in the afternoon and i talked to everyone who stopped by. Bummed a few 30 amp fuses from some folks. There was a yota that offered to tow me but i probably weighed twice what he did and i declined because he could break...very nice of him either way.
I started hiking out some distance. Maybe a half mile just to see if i could see anyone coming. I thought maybe the other guys were stuck or maybe they broke too. Around 6:30 two jeeps came rolling by. They were both built and the first one had a hiker with a wrist in the shape of a Z. She was immediately taken off the trail by the jeep guy. Later she was flew to UCSF medical center. Lucky for her to get out...possibly could have went into shock or something.
The other jeep guy was quite honestly one of the best human beings ive ever had contact with. He was positive, optimistic and really reassured me that i would get help. He started to give me a tow. It was a purple tube frame jeep, 350 tbi with dynatrac 60's. He got me up to an area where it turned gnarly quick. It was near a pond about .25 miles from winch hill 1. He started slipping too much so he winched on me in reverse.
He was also driving in reverse to pull me up some big rocks. He started chopping up and down and sure as shizz a bang went off that sounded like a shotgun. My heart sank.
He broke a u joint in the front axle. I felt horrible. It was all my fault. If i didnt break he woudlt have lost an axle.
He told me "no big deal, i can fix this". I helped him pull the axle and stuff a rag in the end. We got it back togethor and he said the other jeep has his 9 year old in it. I said go. Ill be fine. I got some cell service and learned that my parents were camping near truckee and got the news. They were heading down to be my HQ. They camped at the staging area until i got my ass off that trail at 5:30 AM monday. Purple jeep guy was so calm and collect. I got him a water for his efforts and apologized profusely. He said no big deal man, ill get out and send you help. I thanks him and he was on his way. The sun was going down and that was the first time fear had come to mind. I was all alone out on a trail ive never been on with nothing in sight. Ive been alone before in places for days at a time but those were planned out. This was completely unplanned and unfortunately i was ill equipped.
Again i got control of myself and texted my dad what the problems were. He told me what to check and no luck. It was at this point i had to make a decision. I was a plug in the trail and no one could get around me. I started stacking rocks to make the trail a little smoother even though it was far rougher than Rubicons big sluice. I walked around, studied my surroundings until i came up with the conclusion i need to move. I couldn't get my ass out of the way enough for someone to get around me. Thats a very big problem.
I started to stack rocks for an hour and a half. I filled in some of the big swells and it was time to either do or die. I went for it. The truck would only run at full throttle. I bounced my ass through that and at one point had both front tires up off the ground. I totally expected something to give, something to explode and nothing. I made it. It was such a small feat but it felt like a huge victory. I was now out of the way of anyone coming down the trail which means i could get help from either direction. There was a small pond there and i washed myself up with the mosquito infested water. At this time it got dark.
I took my 9mm out and put one in the chamber and clicked safety off. It was too much of a slop to be able to pitch a tent so i slept upright in my truck seat. Never even ate that night or lunch due to the stress. Just kept rationing myself water. I tried my ass off to sleep and nothing. Finally a 350 powered fj40 and an xj came down the trail at 12:30am. Two guys got out and asked whats going on.
One of the guys was a shorter hispanic guy...he had the hood open and started finding issues faster then i could tell them the trucks symptoms. He was a machine. He sat in the engine bay and rewired my screwed up hot wire job. The guy also found a vacuum leak from a cracked plug. The truck instantly ran better. It wasnt perfect but seemed driveable.
He said you need to go now while its running. I was by myself heading the opposite direction at night. My judgement said no. I cant risk getting in trouble at night and he agreed i should take off at day break. I waiting in my truck that night, finger on the trigger, listening to the bumps in the night. There was a river paralell to the trail that dround out some noise and i couldnt tell if anything was walking up on me. Of course out there your mind wanders. No moon all weekend so it was DARK!
Around 2:30 am a jeep rolled up. It was white and silver with soem younger guys my age in it. They said they would relay my call for help. He let me charge my phone...cigarette lighter port took a crap. I got my phone to 22%. I later found out that guy talked to my parents as well and told them i was ok.
I turned my phone off for the night. Got about an hour of sleep. literally waited for the sun to come up. When it did i got out of the truck and carefully scanned the area. Theres been some reports of mountain lions hunting people. I would be that sitting duck.
I started going to work. Prepping the truck for leaving. I started it and what do you know...it wasnt running right again. I was pissed. That was when fear set in. I was literally trapped for the time being. I had about a day worth of food and 3 days of water.
Thats the point when i turned my phone on, got some internet signal. I jumped on pirate and made a mayday call. I posted a help needed asap message including my phone number. Word started to spread by 7:30 and the text were rolling in. People asking for location and specifics. i texted quickly, abbreviating words to keep the screen on for short spurts. I finally got a message froma guy who goes by kdub on pirate. Hes a friends of fordyce member and said he would send his friend in and they were loading up right now. I felt like i had hope. Kdub said the guy hes sending in is crazy as hell but he'll get you out and he runs the trail fast. Time was passing by. I felt like i was in jail watching a clock.
It was so beautiful out there and i couldnt enjoy it. I limped the truck up the trail some more. I also made rock stacks and arrows out of wood to signal my location or distress. I wrote help on the side of the blazer with ketchup. Finally i could hear a 4 banger bouncing off the rev limiter. It was almost euphoric. I kept thinking i was hearing things. Sure enough he crested the hill and i waived. The guy rolls up tokin with a big ass meaty dog. It was a 4 runner on dana 70s and 7.17 gears. Impressive truck.
We went right to work. He charged my phone some and told my parents we made contact. This was sunday at about 3pm.
The guy brought me some stuff including an electric fuel pump, atf and fuses. He had water and a lot of alcohol lol.
I didnt want to even see beer at that point but he pressured me into it and we polished off 6 or 7 in no time. We made sure there was no water in the distributor and that it was getting spark. check.
Got he truck fired up and he said go. This trail is this guys second home. He said you need to go the way you came. I was like oh shizz. I started down the trail with him behind me. I questioned about him being in back and he said dont worry ill get around if i need to. The truck was only running good at full throttle so i ripped it down the trail. bouncing all over.
We got pretty far under my own power. To winch hill .5 to be exact. I started going up hill and it died. He said crank it over WFO. I did so and he immediately yelled "GTFO of the truck". I threw my back pack out the window, which had ammo in it as i could see flames coming from under the truck. I had my extinguisher ready and got the fire out. It was because of the catalytic converter. He said take that off. i was now open headers!
He wheeled around me and pulled me up the hill. Let it cool down then it wouldnt start. Got really stuck going down WH.5. Tires jammed into rock, no power steering from non running engine. He called in back up. An ultra 4 car from colfax i believe. It was at this time we discovered the truck was pissing fuel from carb. I knew the float was stuck. Blew some more fuses, got winched sideways. Needed more pulling to get free so he drive up the side of my truck...oh well right?
Got freed up and going again. i kept my eye on the dog because he was tailing close and i didnt want to hurt him. I fed him a water on the way down the rock gardens approaching where i camped 2 nights before. It got dark quick. There was word of a CJ jeep that smoked the computer in it. Back up was called in for that. The guy who was rescuing the cj blew a radiator hose and they both had to be pulled out. Its my belief that it was kevin from Parts mike who did that duty of getting them both out. That guys a champ.
It got dark quick again and somehow again the truck fired up. The guy with the 4 runner said you need to go right now to get as far as you can. I started down the trail, open headers blairing at 10pm in the forest. I could hear him say as i was leaving "i lost my dog". Not again i said to myself. Not more bad luck?
The dog was just there. Lost sight of him in the dark. The 4 rnner guy said go ahead. I went about 100ft, stopped and put it in park. Doggies are more important than people. I cannot leave like this. Its not apart of me.
I walked away from the truck running and headed into the dark to search for the dog. No luck. 4 runner guy made the final call. He said that hes confident the dog will catch up or go back to his tow rig. I was so delirious that i went with whatever he said. Out of no where two guys come walking up out of the dark. They said hey we were sent in for rescue but got a flat tire, no spare, no air. I thanksed them for their efforts. After all this was now about 1 am Monday morning. Like i said these guys were beyond human beings. They were heroes and nothing short of that.
The flat tire guys did the re-seat trick and limped out on a few psi.
Ultra 4 car came and hooked up to me. 4 runner guy was spent and went home. Ultra 4 towed me for what seemed like ever. It was really hard on me and the truck because he wanted to go fast. I got stuck several times due to steering 40s manually. It took on average 30 minutes or more to get unstuck. Finally we reached the water crossing i had done 2 nights before.
An hour before the crossing i heard a car alarm siren. It was loud and bold. It was to let anyone know the water level was rising. I couldnt imagine that had to add itself to the painstaking trip.
We reached the crossing. My hood went under the water. It was probably 5 feet deep. maybe more.
It took a few hours to get up the hill after that. Its super steep and full of basketball size rocks. I was falling asleep at the wheel as we were going up. We started pinching off the fuel line to make it run better. It worked a bit. We got to a point where i could go no further. The k5 was too heavy for the 4400lb ultra 4 car. Off in the distance there were light. Little beams of hope.
Sure enough it was kevin from partsmike and his passenger in a light blue 4 runner. I was really worried it wasnt going to be enough to pull me out. His passneger got out and looked at me, he said "we dont leave people out here". I almost teared up because of that battle i had been through so far. i was a wreck. I was covered in snot, dust, ants, grease and who knows what else.
What on earth are these guys doing out here at 4 am monday morning. Best guys ive ever met. I never knew people like that existed. I think they went to work that day too. Champions and heroes.
Slowly but surely i started to inch up the hill. They were double winching and tugging.
I made it up. The hard part was over. It was like i couldn't remember the trail though. Not enough sleep or food. Kevin said i need to be at work at 6, jokingly. i replied well i need to be in Berkeley at 7:30 haha (atleast 3 hours from my location).
I finally got off the trail at about 5:30 am. I remember looking at this white truck across the parking lot with a trailer behind it. i stared at it for 5 minutes before i realized it was mine. I was out of it big time.
I charged my ohone, called parents and they took me to there 5th wheel for coffee and food. I thanked everyone over and over again. I looked at kevin and said i guess your tierods are badass. He laughed and said "wow those are from me?", i replied with "do you guys do product reviews?". We shook hands and he was on his way. Buggy guy loaded up and he was gone too.
I felt victorious. I felt like i came from the belly of the beast but not without the help of extraordinary men. They were everything to me. Ill be sending them what money i have for there efforts.
4 runner guy started the trail at 7AM to look for the dog. A search party began. I wish i could have helped but i felt like id be a hazard with my lack of sleep and nutrition. I told everyone in passing about the dog, including tow jeepers going on the trail that morning. Dog was recovered at 4pm!
Huge weight off my shoulder. That was weighing on me big time.
Got the truck back on the trailer at full throttle and open headers at 9 am.
A big big thanks to pirate, partmike, brian with the U4 car, 4 runner guy, norcal chris, friends of fordyce, hellbent hillbillies, dang gang, skunked, steve allen, and the entire 4 wheeling community. I now understand that out of any hobby, the brotherhood of 4 wheeling is the strongest. Never have i seen such hard work, devotion, coordination, communication and patience. Again a gigantic thanks!
The k5 is hammered. No straight body parts anymore. I guess i can say its a true wheeler now haha. I was a little hurt by the damage but im alive and things could have gone south very fast. I guess i dont have to worry about dents anymore right?
. Glad you made it out. How many shake down runs did you make before attempting Fordyce?
